Walkin' On the Sun - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

"Walkin' on the Sun" is the debut single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

by American rock band Smash Mouth

Smash Mouth

Smash Mouth is an American rock band from San Jose, California. The band was formed in 1994, and was originally composed of Steve Harwell, Greg Camp, Paul De Lisle and Kevin Coleman as lead vocals, guitar, bass and drums respectively...

from the album Fush Yu Mang
Fush Yu Mang
Fush Yu Mang, released in 1997, is the first full length album from the San Jose, California rock band Smash Mouth. It includes their first major hit, "Walkin' on the Sun". The title of the album was taken from a line slurred by Al Pacino in Scarface...

. Released in 1997, it was Smash Mouth's first major single, reaching #1 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks

Modern Rock Tracks

Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...

chart and #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay singles chart. It has since also been released on the Walkin' on the Sun EP

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

and All Star Smash Hits, the Smash Mouth greatest hits

Greatest hits

A greatest hits album is a music compilation album of successful, previously released songs by a particular artist or band...

album. The song appears in the music video game

Music video game

A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs...

Rock Band 3
Rock Band 3
Rock Band 3 is a music video game, developed by Harmonix Music Systems. The game was initially published and distributed by MTV Games and Electronic Arts, respectively, with Mad Catz taking over both roles a year later. It is the third main game in the Rock Band series...

.

Alvin and the Chipmunks

Alvin and the Chipmunks

Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated music group created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespectacled intellectual;...

covered the song for their 2007 video game Alvin and the Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks (video game)
Alvin and the Chipmunks is a video game based on the film of the same name. The game was released on December 4, 2007 and was the first release by short-lived video game company Brash Entertainment. It follows The Chipmunks as they play their way from small venues to massive crowds at Burning Munk...

. In this version, all references to drugs were removed.

Content

The song presents an ironic and implied Generation X

Generation X

Generation X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is the generation born after the Western post–World War II baby boom ended. While there is no universally agreed upon time frame, the term generally includes people born from the early 1960's through the early 1980's, usually no later than 1981 or...

view of the hippie

Hippie

The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...

movement, extolling ideals of peace and love, and the subsequent conversion of those ideals into simple commercial fads, "because fashion is smashin' the true meaning of it", and references the suburbanization

Suburbanization

Suburbanization a term used to describe the growth of areas on the fringes of major cities. It is one of the many causes of the increase in urban sprawl. Many residents of metropolitan regions work within the central urban area, choosing instead to live in satellite communities called suburbs...

of modern America

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

and the LA Riots of 1992 when the song was written. "Weird Al" Yankovic

"Weird Al" Yankovic

Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...

included the chorus of the song in his "Polka Power!" polka medley for his Running With Scissors
Running with Scissors (album)
Running with Scissors is the 10th studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released on June 29, 1999. The album contains the hit single "The Saga Begins", a parody of Don McLean's song "American Pie".-Details:...

album.

Origins

The song's opening riff and counter-melody are based on "Swan's Splashdown" from the 1966 Perrey and Kingsley

Perrey and Kingsley

The musical duo Perrey and Kingsley are pioneers in the field of electronic music. Before their collaboration, starting in 1965, electronic music was considered to be purely avant-garde...

electronic music

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

album, The In Sound From Way Out!
The In Sound From Way Out! (Perrey and Kingsley album)
The In Sound from Way Out! was the first collaboration between electronic musicians Perrey and Kingsley and considered to be the first-ever mainstream electronic music album. It was released in 1966 on Vanguard Records, an independent label in Santa Monica, California.Perrey and Kingsley came...

.

EP track listing

"Walkin' on the Sun" – 3:28
"Sorry About Your Penis" – 1:26
"Dear Inez" – 2:53
"Push" – 2:52
"Walkin' on the Sun" (Love Attack Mix) – 5:38
"Walkin' on the Sun" (Phant 'N' Phunky Sunstroke Club) – 6:40

Europe single

"Walkin' on the Sun" – 3:25
"Sorry About Your Penis" – 1:23
"Dear Inez" – 2:50
"Push" – 2:49

Chart positions

Chart (1997)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...	7
Canadian RPM RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,... Singles Chart Canadian Singles Chart The Canadian Singles Chart is currently compiled by the U.S.-based music sales tracking company, Nielsen SoundScan . The chart is compiled every Wednesday, and is published by Jam! Canoe on Thursdays....	3
Canadian RPM Alternative 30 Canadian rock/alternative chart The Canadian rock/alternative chart was first published on June 11, 1995 by RPM magazine under the name Alternative 30. The song which held the number-one spot on this first chart was "More Human than Human" by White Zombie...	1
German Singles Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...	90
Netherlands Singles Chart	76
New Zealand Singles Chart	27
Swedish Singles Chart	42
UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...	19
US Billboard Hot 100 Airplay Hot 100 Airplay The Hot 100 Airplay chart is a chart released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States. It measures radio airplay, and is one of the three component charts, along with the Hot Singles Sales and the Hot Digital Songs charts, that determine the chart positions of singles on the Billboard...	2
US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...	1
US Billboard Top 40 Mainstream	2
US Billboard Adult Top 40	1

Content

Origins

EP track listing

Europe single

Chart positions

See also